


.69 cents in change

by Exupery03



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: And Jeongin, M/M, and seungmin, and woojin, dance line are friends, i'm a fanfic virgin so if this is bad i'm sorry, jisung works at a fast food restaurant, so does chan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-09-01 16:29:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exupery03/pseuds/Exupery03
Summary: Jisung is put on night shifts at the fast food restaurant he works at.Minho stays late at the dance studio to practice.The two meet for the first time as a hot and sweaty Minho pulls up to Jisung's drive-thru window.What ensues is two boys falling in love through fast food orders.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!!
> 
>   
> chapters will switch between minho and jisung's POV

The only thing on Jisung’s mind when he pulled up in the staff parking lot outside his work, was the dreadful memory of his assistant manager, Woojin, asking him to cover his evening shifts. Jisung had always worked a short, four hour, lunch shift, but when Woojin told him he was travelling to Busan for a Kendo competition, he felt like he couldn’t refuse. 

“It’s either you or Chan, and Chan works enough as it is,” Woojin had told him. 

Chan was the manager at the fast food chain restaurant he and Woojin worked at. Chan had both known them during their school days and had invited them to work with him when he landed the job. He was a nice guy, but Jisung often felt bad for him. The restaurant they worked at was small, understaffed, and even though Chan was a hard worker, the higher levels of management treated him poorly.

“True. I can do it then,” Jisung said to him, “But I expect the rights to the radio. Something that should already be rightfully mine. Cause listen,” He said leaning closer to Woojin, “I love DAY6 as much as the next guy but if Seungmin plays ‘Shoot Me’ one more time I’m actually going to shoot myself.” 

Woojin laughed and agreed he could man the radio, on condition he would not deprive Seungmin of DAY6 entirely, saying, “He’d probably quit.”

Jisung made some more jokes and smiled because he didn’t want to make Woojin feel guilty, but he was secretly really disappointed. Jisung hated working nights. It was extremely dull. Hardly anyone came to the drive thru and since Jisung mainly worked the windows, that meant there was nothing to do. It just felt like a waste of time. Still, Woojin was a good worker and an even better friend, so Jisung wished him good luck and agreed to take up night shifts for the next couple weeks.

It was just about 4pm, when Jisung decided to leave his car to go inside the restaurant. He usually went in a few minutes early so he could change into his uniform, which consisted of an ugly visor, black pants that didn’t fit him, and a hideous yellow and orange striped shirt. He had been running a bit late that day, so he figured that he’d have to change quickly. 

When Jisung swung open the restaurant door, the powerful smell of fried food rushed to greet him. It didn’t bother him anymore, but during his first few months of working at the restaurant he hated the greasy aroma that seemed follow him everywhere. Chan joked that it bonded them, like everyone having the same smell tied them together like a family. Jisung wasn’t impressed by Chan’s analogy, but learned to get used to it. Sometimes going a week without showering, Jisung accepted that the grease smell was a part of him.

The first thing Jisung noticed when he entered the restaurant was a young boy dressed in a yellow school uniform, standing awkwardly by the ordering counter. Jisung walked by him, behind the counter towards the staff bathroom, giving a friendly nod to him as he slid past. The boy returned with a bow and a nervous smile.  
“Someone will be with you in a minute,” Jisung said, disappearing into the kitchen. It wasn’t extremely odd for the two tills at the ordering counter to be unattended. The restaurant was often understaffed, which wasn’t usually too problematic because they were generally not very busy, at least when compared other fast food restaurants. Still, he wondered where Chan was. He was a manager so it wasn’t technically part of his job to take orders but he often helped out in the kitchen whenever he could.

When Jisung asked Chan if he going to hire anyone to help, Chan told him that he was ‘working on it’. Jisung didn’t doubt that he was, but he knew that Chan was juggling a lot so he didn’t badger him about it.

When Jisung returned from the bathroom, fully dressed in his baggy uniform, he was surprised to see that the young boy was still standing at the front counter.

“Oh! Sorry about that,” He apologized, jogging to the till, “What can I get you today?”

The boy fidgeted with his hands before saying, “Actually, I’m not ordering. I’m here for work.” Jisung raised his eyebrows.

“Oh! Chan finally found someone!” He exclaimed. “Great!”

The boy flashed an awkward smile, that displayed a shiny row of braces. Jisung noted this and thought it made him appear very young. 

“How old are you..uh,” Jisung paused, realizing he didn’t know the new employee’s name.

“Jeongin. I’m Jeongin,” The boy said. “And I’m seventeen.”

“Ahh, young! A new baby in family.” Jisung smiled, Jeongin just smiled too but somewhat uncomfortably.

“Come on back and I’ll introduce you to the gang.” Jisung said, waving Jeongin through the swinging half doors that separated the public from the staff. Jeongin scooted through and followed behind him closely. 

Jisung first brought Jeongin to the dish pit, where they found another young boy scrubbing plates and humming along to music playing from a damaged looking radio off to the side of the room. He appeared so lost in the music that he didn’t hear the two approach.

“This here,” Jisung said, placing a hand on the dishwasher’s back, “is our Seungminnie.” 

Seungmin jumped slightly, snapped out of his musical trance, and turned to face the pair. His eyes immediately skipped Jisung and drew to new boy, who stood out quite easily with his bright yellow school blazer. He gave him a brief look up and down before reaching out a soapy, rubber gloved hand. Jeongin hesitantly shook it and gave a quick dip of a bow. He then introduced himself, to which Seungmin did the same.

“It’s good that Chan finally hired someone,” Seungmin said, turning back to the dishes. Jisung nodded in agreement. He wondered if Chan had hired him just because he was feeling pressured to fill the position or if he had actually thought that Jeongin would work well. 

Jisung leaned up against the wall, “Totally. Especially now that Woojin’s gone for the month. We’ve been needing more night staff.” He smiled at Jeongin, who looked still uncomfortable. 

“Actually,” Jeongin said, “I can only work until 10 on weekdays. I have school in the morning, and my parents won’t allow me to stay out any later than that.”

The new employee’s eyes fell to the floor. He seemed was ashamed that he was already letting down his coworkers. Jisung felt bad for him, but was frustrated that this meant he’d probably have to keep working nights. He could barely stand to look around the small kitchen, knowing that’d he’d be staring at it for the next eight hours.

“Ah, it’s okay,” Jisung said, brushing the dread away. “At least we can still work for a couple hours together, right?” 

Jisung was trying to make Jeongin feel at home. The staff at the restaurant was much like a family. Chan and Woojin were the dads and the employees were their children. Jisung was the loud, annoying, brother, Seungmin was the smart, clean son, Changbin- who wasn’t an actual worker but a friend of his and Chan’s that often hung around for free food-was like the emo kid, and Jeongin had potential to be their precious younger sibling.

“Come,” Jisung said to Jeongin, gesturing for him to follow again. “I’ll bring you to Chan.”

Chan’s office was small, and his desk and chairs barely fit into the room. Jisung found it painful to be in. Too tight, no natural light, and very plain looking. It didn’t help that the walls were an unappealing off-white colour, or that no matter how often Woojin smacked the spiders away, webs collected in the ceiling corners. Jisung enjoyed room to move and stretch out in. Chan on the other hand, seemed to be unaffected by his office. When he wasn’t busting his ass in the kitchen, he was hunched over his computer doing more work. It was a mystery to Jisung how Chan could stand the room.

“Jisung!” Chan beamed when Jisung opened his office door, dropping an intense look of focus. “And Jeongin!” Chan immediately stood up to better greet his new employee. When he rose from his chair, Jisung heard some of his limbs crack, and he wondered when the last time Chan had moved from his desk. 

“I’m so sorry! I completely forgot you were coming in today!” Chan apologized, giving Jeongin a firm handshake.

Jeongin reassured him that it was no problem and Chan invited him to sit down in the chair across from his desk. Jisung flashed back to the previous week, remembering when he had sat in that chair, much more relaxed than Jeongin looked, telling Chan that he was going to takeover night shifts for the next couple weeks. 

“Jisung, it’s fine. I’ll just-” Chan started.

“You’ll what?” Jisung interrupted. “Eliminate sleep entirely? Live using exclusively coffee for energy?” 

Chan replied saying, “Bold of you to assume, I haven’t already done both of those things,” which got a laugh out of Jisung, even though he wouldn’t be surprised if Chan actually had.

Jisung left the office, and stepped back into the kitchen. He figured that Chan was probably going to go over training with Jisung, and that he was needed serving customers. When he saw that other staff had arrived to work the counters, he headed back past Seungmin to the ordering windows. 

Gently, he picked up a headset hanging on the wall above the cashier, and slid it onto his head. He did a brief inspection of small booth around the window, making sure that the receipt dispenser had enough paper and that the cashier had change. He also checked that the drink machine was functioning okay by filling an extra large cup to the brim with coke and then drinking the whole thing. Though he told himself he was only making sure it tasted okay.

After tossing his cup into a nearby trash bin, Jisung returned to his window and looked out it longingly. The night was already creeping into view. The sun was setting and it was soon to be night. Jisung just hoped that it went by quick and waited for a customer to arrive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho spends his Friday night practicing at the dance studio.

“Five, six, seven, eight!” 

Music boomed from the speakers against a wall behind Minho. He had been dancing for an hour and a half straight and as a result, he was sweating profusely. Though he had hardly noticed. The sounds from the speakers and his reflection in the mirror were the only things Minho had focused during his whole practice that night. The only thoughts in his brain were music and move. And like a puppet on a string, Minho sprung into motion. 

The choreography made Minho’s body move like a chain reaction. The twist of the waist, meant the swing of the arm, which created the flick of the fingers. Minho danced moving every bone in his body. Though he often had doubts about his abilities, he moved through the air incredibly smoothly, so it'd be obvious to any outsider that he was talented dancer. His movements were also extremely precise and synced with the music so well, it was almost as if the beat of his heart was replaced with that of the song’s.

When the song ended. Minho bent over, too exhausted to hold himself up. He glanced at Hyunjin and Felix, his dance partners who had been following alongside him. They too panted, wiping their sweat with their forearms. Felix took off the Supreme hat he had been wearing and cast it aside.

Felix and Hyunjin knew Minho well. The trio had grown close during a hip hop class a few years back. When the class ended, they decided to rent a practice room at a local dance studio and meet up a few times a week to dance together. Some days Felix’s boyfriend Changbin would come and control the music, pausing and playing it for them. Other times he was just there to get crappy fast food burgers with Felix after practice. Besides from the occasional sappy moments between Felix and Changbin that left Minho feeling awkward, the group worked well together and enjoyed hanging out.

“Minhoooo, that looked so good!” Changbin awed, which got an immediate response from Felix who spun to face Changbin, hands over his heart, with a shocked look.  
“Babe,” he whispered in an over exaggerated tone.  
“Ah, Felix, no. Not like that,” Changbin backpedaled. “Babe, I was just giving him a compliment.” 

Felix made a pained face, clutching his shirt, pretending to cry. Changbin got up only to fall to his knees and fake beg for forgiveness. Minho took a large gulp of his water and looked away.

It wasn’t that Minho didn’t like Felix and Changbin being affectionate, but sometimes when he saw Changbin and Felix link hands when walking out of the studio, something inside Minho gave him an uncomfortable feeling, an empty. He felt similarly when he woke up alone in his apartment, or when he spent Friday nights alone with his cats. Minho would never admit it, but he was lonely. 

“Whatever,” Felix pouted, jutting his chin up. “Buy your own burgers bitch.”

“No!” Changbin cried. He clung to Felix’s arm, tugging on his sleeve. Felix turned his head away, but only so Changbin wouldn’t see his grin. Hyunjin hadn’t been watching but Minho scoffed, feeling gross watching the two grow gooey.

“Oh look. Minho’s jealous,” Hyunjin joked, turning to point at Minho.

“I am not.” He shot Hyunjin a dirty look. 

Felix pushed Changbin away and sneered, “No, he’s just salty cause he’s single.” 

“Excuse me?” Minho asked in an accusatory manner, which only made Felix smirk.

“Actually,” Changbin said, holding up a hand like he was about to hit them with facts. “It’s teen angst.”

“Oh, you would know all about that wouldn’t you” Minho countered, which caused Hyunjin and Felix to snicker.

“Plus I’m 20, so...”

Minho’s comment made Felix grin as he turned to Hyunjin and Felix and asked, “So midlife crisis?” Which produced more laughs, mainly from Hyunjin, as they nodded in agreement. Minho just glared at them, not blinking, as he took a long sip of his water.

The group continued dancing for a few more minutes, but Felix and Changbin continued play fighting and Hyunjin was too tired from his school day to stay awake for much longer, so they all agreed to end for the night. But as they boys started packing up their water bottles and phones, Minho hung back. When they started making their way to the door, Hyunjin noticed that Minho was in the corner with the speakers, hooking his phone to the aux cord.

“Hyung? Are you coming?”

Minho gave Hyunjin a brief glance and answered, “I think I’m just going to stay a few more minutes. Maybe clean up the footwork we started today.” 

Hyunjin gave Minho a concerned look. He worried for Minho. He knew he usually stayed behind when he and Felix left, but he wasn’t sure for how long. Hyunjin suspected that it was longer than just an extra couple minutes but Minho would never admit it. Hyunjin had questioned him about it once, which Minho brushed off with a lie about struggling with a part of the choreography, but Hyunjin could tell that he was doing a lot more. Every week, Minho seemed sharper and sharper, much more than a few extra minutes of practice had to have contributed to that.  
“Promise you won’t stay too long?” Hyunjin asked.

Without turning around, Minho gave a half hearted, “yes,” holding up a hand in a quick goodbye to his friends as they left the studio.

The door had barely shut behind them before Minho began to play song they’d been working on and make his way to the center of the dance floor, only to start practicing again.

The practice room was a place Minho spent many hours of his week in. He was an avid dancer, aspiring to become a student at a high class dance academy, known for accepting only the most talented performers, so training was always at the top of his mind. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be at the dance studio more than five days a week, even though he met there with Hyunjin and Felix only three times a week. Minho didn’t mind practicing by himself, he was more focused and was able to improve quicker. He was used to flying solo. 

It was nearing 10:30 when Minho finally stopped dancing. He was exhausted and on the verge of collapsing. Though somehow he summoned enough energy to drag himself to the side of the room to grab his backpack and water bottle. He took a couple good swings of the drink but stopped to catch his breath. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. His entire body looked like one giant sweat stain. Minho then realized how hot he was. The small stuffy studio used to have an ac but it broke a few months back. 

Sticky and uncomfortable, Minho made his way to the door, but paused when he spotted Felix’s hat left by the speakers. The bright red Supreme logo had caught his attention. Minho rolled his eyes and went to grab it, figuring he could return it to him on Monday, their next practice. But as he reached for it, he remembered Felix talking to Changbin about going to McDonalds. He wondered if they were still there. 

I’ll stop by on my way home and if they aren’t there I’ll just return to him next week, Minho thought to himself. And with that he left the studio.

Minho slowed his car as he pulled up into the parking lot. He made sure to choose a spot close to the restaurant, planning on only being a couple minutes. Then, from inside his car, Minho squinted until he spotted Felix. He was sitting across from Changbin, laughing about something. 

Minho snatched Felix’s hat off the seat beside him and opened his car door, but immediately stopped in his tracks. His body grew cold when greeted with the night air and he shivered. Confused, Minho looked down at himself. His skin and clothes were still moist with perspiration. He reached a hand to his hair and it came back greasy, then pointed his nose down to his shoulder only to get a whiff of a sour smell. 

I’m gross, He thought. I can’t go inside. I reek.

Frustrated, Minho took another look at Felix inside. He tried catching his eye by waving his hands around, but Felix was much too far away for him to notice. So Minho shut the car door and pulled out his phone to text him.

MinWhore: I’ve got your hat

He looked to the restaurant window, but Minho figured that Felix must have had his notifications disabled because neither Felix or Changbin made any sort of reaction to text alert. Instead they just kept chatting and giggling, seemingly talking to another person in the direction of the ordering counter. 

MinWhore: I’m driving away now…

MinWhore: You’ll be without your precious Supreme hat knockoff for the next three days...

MinWhore: …

MinWhore: I’ll just give it to you on Monday

After sending the last text, Minho started his car, but didn’t yet pull out of his parking space. He looked again to the restaurant but this time not at Felix and instead a brightly lit up poster featured on the outside wall. It advertised a fat, juicy looking burger, promising a delicious meal for a cheap price. Minho’s mouth couldn’t help but water. The thick patty topped with gooey cheese, sandwiched between a fluffy bun, was practically calling his name like a siren to a sailor. Typically, Minho would try to avoid fast food restaurants on his route home, knowing that he couldn’t help himself after a long night of practicing. But he was already at the restaurant and Minho was not one to easily resist the temptation of a greasy fast food snack. 

Just this one time, Minho promised himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Changbin and Felix cause a commotion. Jisung has an awkward exchange with a customer.

“Who broke what? What’s going on? Who’s hurt?” Chan sputtered, running into the kitchen. 

He had been in his office when he heard a loud shatter, which wasn’t an unusual thing to hear while Jisung was working, but from previous experiences Chan found it was best to investigate quickly. He burst out of his office to find Jisung and Jeongin standing around one of the restaurant’s glass cups in shards on the ground. Jisung flashed him a smile, but Jeongin gave a worried look.

“Jisung?” Chan asked, accusingly.

Jisung pretended to look around, as if searching for someone else. He did a full three sixty turn looking confused before spotting Jeongin. Jisung feigned surprise, before nudging him with his elbow.

“Psst. That’s you,” He whispered, directing Jeongin’s gaze to Chan, who was giving him a weary expression.  
“Jisung.” 

Jisung pointed to paper name tag on Jeongin’s chest.

“Look! J-e-o-n-g-i-n, Jisung!”

“Jisung, please just clean it up,” Chan said.

“No.”

“I’m walking away.”

“Me too.”

“No, Jisung.” Chan called, leading away Jeongin to the front counter.

Jeongin didn't feel shameful about leaving Jisung to clean up alone. He didn’t exactly dislike his new coworker, but he wasn’t sure how fond he was of him. To Jeongin, a brand new employee, learning how to follow the rules was the only thing he was focused on, but Jisung, a veteran worker, discovering new ways to push the limits was keeping him from dying of boredom. And since Jisung’s working attitude was not one Jeongin wanted associated with him on his first day, he was trying his best to politely avoid him. However, when Jisung shouted to him from in the kitchen, asking him to come over, Jeongin was unsure if he was allowed to say no. He regretfully entered the kitchen and found Jisung with a tall glass in his left hand. When Jeongin asked why he had called him, Jisung explained that he was going to attempt to water bottle flip the cup onto the counter. Before Jeongin was even able to process what he’d meant, Jisung had already flung the glass in the air, which missed the counter entirely and fell to the tiled floor. From this Jeongin decided that Jisung must be clinically insane.

“You didn’t even use a clean glass?” Seungmin asked, appearing behind Jisung, gesturing to a few splattered drops of orange juice on the ground. Jisung shook his head as he crouched down to collect the largest glass fragments. 

“Idiot,” Seungmin said, handing him cloth for the spill.

Jisung wasn’t surprised that Seungmin was standing over him, monitoring his cleaning. Seungmin was keen on keeping the restaurant as spotless as it could be, hence being the dishwasher, and Jisung wasn’t the most sanitary worker. He’d much rather leave the juice on the ground and watch someone get sticky shoes from it. 

“You missed a spot,” Seungmin told him.

Jisung squinted at the ground, “What? Where?”

“There.” Seungmin pointed his finger to the restaurant entrance where Jisung spotted Changbin, dressed in his typical all black clothing, walking through the door, followed by Felix, who looked tired. 

Unlike Seungmin, Jisung loved when Changbin and Felix stopped by the restaurant. He, Changbin, and Chan had been close for a long time. When Chan invited Jisung to work for him, he had asked Changbin too. But Changbin turned him down, saying that he wanted time to pursue his dream of becoming of rapper. Jisung had similar hopes for his future but his parents were less supportive of the idea than Changbin’s and told him that he needed to make money before starting any ‘hobbies’. 

Sometimes Changbin would visit Jisung and Chan without Felix and if it was a slow day they’d help him write song lyrics. The trio had finished many full songs over the years but nothing ever came of them. Chan was reluctant to leave his position as manager and Jisung felt that he couldn’t make the switch without him. The two had considered it before. Jisung often reflected on a certain conversation with Chan, where they both admitted that they’d be sad to leave Seungmin and Woojin behind after growing so close. Jisung wished that there was a way all of them could move on together, as a family. 

Changbin and Felix walked up to the counter where Jeongin was stationed. Felix said something about Changbin having to order, and moved aside to let his boyfriend make the order.

“Two burgers, with an I-know-the-manager discount please,” Changbin ordered. Jeongin gave him a confused look, and opened his mouth, but no words came. Chan had been teaching him about discounts and other cases of price reduction earlier but he didn’t recall hearing anything similar to what Changbin was speaking of.

Changbin smiled, seeing the new employee’s confusion and added, “It means it’s free.”

Jeongin turned to Chan who, as soon as he had spotted Changbin and Felix approaching the restaurant, he started rubbing his forehead, mentally praying the pair would order normally. Chan was beginning to realize that it may be too much to ask for. 

“Can he do that?” Jeongin asked quietly.

“No. No, he can’t,” Chan sighed, already predicting what Changbin was going to say.

“Hate crime! This is a hate crime,” Changbin shouted suddenly, banging his hands onto the counter.

Jisung noticed Jeongin visibly jump in surprise, which he thought was a little funny. Knowing Changbin and Felix long enough, the “hate crime,” joke was a running gag. The line always made Jisung smile at the very least, however Chan, who was tired of apologizing to customers for the commotion they caused, was unimpressed. Jisung surveyed the dining area, taking note of a few startled customers including an elderly man who made gave Changbin a sour stare over the edges of his newspaper. 

“It’s because we’re gay, isn’t it,” Felix falsely accused. “Or is because we’re asian? Huh? Cause we’re gay asians, is that it?”

“We’re all asian,” Seungmin pointed out.

Jisung whispered under his breath, “We’re all gay,” which got a look from Jeongin who looked increasingly uncomfortable as the conversation continued. 

Though he had told Seungmin and Jisung that he could only work until 10pm on weekdays, since it was Friday and he didn’t have school the next day, Jeongin agreed to stay late to receive more training. Jisung wondered if he was regretting that decision.

“Okay, well I’m not paying full price for bad burgers,” Felix argued. Chan held up his hands and brought them down in a fanning motion, gesturing for him to be quieter.

“Then please leave the restaurant,” Chan replied calmly. 

Felix’s mouth hung open and he quickly forgot about Chan wanting him to be quiet because he quickly raised his tone and said, “Excuse me?”

In perfect timing, a woman entered entered the restaurant, alerting everyone of her arrival with the ring of a tiny bell above the door. The woman shuffled her way towards the giant menu above the ordering counter. Chan silently waved his hands, shooing the group away from the counter. He leaned to Jeongin, and told him to make 2 plain burgers and to forget about the money, which made Changbin and Felix give each other a subtle high five.

Jisung returned to his window, where the overhead screen that informed staff members of orders to be completed caught his attention. Bright green lettering displayed an order that was to be delivered out his window. 

“Order 720.” A worker, whom Jisung recognized but did not know well, dropped a paper bag, oil seeping through the bottom, on the counter beside Jisung. “Don’t forget the coke.” 

Jisung glanced up at the screen and read that indeed a large coke was requested. He quickly moved to make the drink, hardly registering the car pulling up to the window beside him. When the drink finished guzzling out of the machine, Jisung popped on a lid and grabbed the bag.

“Good evening,” Jisung greeted, sliding open the window. He was only able to take a brief glance at the customer, a older boy, sitting in his car. The warm yellow glow of the lamp posts that lined the restaurant premises cast a golden shine that highlighted half of his face.

“Here is your, cheeseburger, medium fries, and a large coke.”

“Thanks.” As the boy grabbed the bag and drinks and placed them inside his car, Jisung was able to get a better look at him. He first noticed the sweat, which was most obvious in the boy’s wet, dark hair and the underarm stains in his white shirt. For once Jisung, was glad for the strong, greasy smell of the restaurant as it blocked the sweat stench undoubtedly coming from the boy. Though Jisung wasn’t sure how much he would’ve minded anyway as he was quite entranced by the boy’s face, which he found to be quite attractive. Dark hair, strong eyebrows, smooth skin, just Jisung’s type He felt his blood warm.

“That’ll be ten dollars and uh...,” Jisung paused briefly, reading the number shown on the cash register, “sixty nine cents.”

Jisung glanced at the customer to see if he reacted to the number. He didn’t expect him to. It would be an odd thing for any normal person to do, especially in the given situation, but if Chan hadn’t trained Jisung on professionalism for hours, he would’ve for sure. He wasn’t the most mature member of the staff. Evident from his glass flipping stunt earlier.

To Jisung’s surprise, when he looked up his eyes locked with the boy in the car. Absolutely mortified to have made eye contact with a hot, attractive guy after saying “sixty nine,” Jisung directed his gaze back to the till, but not before catching a small smirk on the boy’s lips. His cheeks immediately flushed a hot pink, which further horrified him.

Oh my god. Is it possible to die from embarrassment? Jisung thought. I think I’m terminally embarrassed. Stage four. 

“Alright, here,” The boy said, reaching out a hand cupping a ten dollar bill, closing the distance between them. Jisung pushed his arm out of the window but unexpectedly, the boy’s hand brushed the tips of Jisung’s fingers as he collected the cash. Embarrassed, Jisung pulled his hand back quickly. But simultaneously, the boy let go of the change, thinking Jisung’s hand was underneath to catch it. The coins glittered in the restaurant light for a brief moment before falling out of sight between the crack of building side and the boy’s car.

“Oh shi-, um.” 

“Oh, uh-”

The two boys both leaned out of their windows and looked to the ground. The coins had rolled underneath the car and neither one of them could see anything, yet both felt unsure of the next course of action. Jisung stole a sneaky glance at the boy just in time to see him run a hand through his soaked hair, which he thought made him look very enticing.

“You know, just leave it,” Jisung said, pulling back up suddenly. Jisung had dropped money from customers before, but usually it was during a busy time, one where the driver was unable to pull back and find it. Plus they were usually middle aged, stuck up, assholes who blamed Jisung for the mistake. Though this wasn’t really either of their fault, and the boy seemed willing to retrieve the change, Jisung had embarrassed himself enough and just wished for the interaction to end.

“Leave it? I can get it,” The boy offered, though his car was so close to the window it would be impossible for him to open his door and find the lost money. 

“No, no. I’ll uh, grab it later.” Jisung said, feeling more embarrassed than he’d ever felt, especially knowing that his cheeks likely looked like they were on fire. 

“Uh, okay…” The boy mumbled, sliding his hand back on his wheel. “Um, thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Jisung replies though he didn’t really have anything to thank him for.

“I mean have a nice night.” He corrected, mentally jumping off a cliff for his unusual awkwardness.

To this the boy nodded, and gave a small grin, as if the whole situation was funny to him. He gave a quick goodnight and rolled away from the window before Jisung was able to embarrass himself any further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this chapter took so long to write. With the holidays and finals approaching, I've been really busy. The next chapter may also take a bit, but I promise I'm not giving up. I'm really grateful for the positive feedback. Thanks. <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho arrives home, only to have an uncomfortable video call with Hyunjin.

A loud vibration caused Minho’s head to jerk awake from his kitchen table. After picking up food from the restaurant, Minho had driven home to his small apartment, where he inhaled his meal and promptly fell asleep. 

Minho drowsily reached out his arm to grab his phone, placed underneath his meal’s wax wrapping, which he flicked aside. The phone continued buzzing and lit up in his hand. He saw that Felix was texting him.

Yongbok: rip sorry hyung

Yongbok: just seeing ur text now

Yongbok: y didn’t u just come in 

Minho logged into his phone and responded to Felix.

MinWhore: too sweaty

MinWhore: just went through the drive thru instead

Yongbok: oh rip

Yongbok: too bad

Minho put his phone down, assuming that the conversation had just died, and stared blankly at it. He flashed back to sitting in the parking lot and seeing Felix and Changbin laughing together in the restaurant. He then remembered going through the drive thru and the interaction he had with the window worker. Minho smiled to himself, thinking of how he had blushed when he read the words sixty nine and how that blush reddened when he dropped the change. Clumsy and cute.

MinWhore: actually

MinWhore: it was kinda good cause the guy ringing me up was cute

Yongbok: oOOoOoo !!

MinWhore: my order cost 10.69 and when he said 69 he looked at me and blushed 

Yongbok: OMG

MinWhore: and when i went to give him my change, we touched hands and he dropped it between us

MinWhore: he was so red

Yongbok: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

MinWhore: i know it was pre good

Yongbok: minho. has. the. big. gay.

MinWhore: no

MinWhore: i don’t

MinWhore: it was just a funny moment

Yongbok: ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)

Yongbok: this is why you’ve been single for years

MinWhore: 

Yongbok: he clearly thought you were hot 

MinWhore: i am hot

Yongbok: 

Yongbok: i’m serious

Yongbok: this is a problem

Yongbok: you get people interested and then when they return your feelings you leave

Yongbok: omG you know what you do

MinWhore: what

Yongbok: u flirt 

Yongbok: and then SKRRT HAHAHA

Yongbok: i’m crying omg

Yongbok: you flirt with people (tho i think it’s subconscious) and then when they show any sign on interest you skrrt

MinWhore:

Yongbok: flirt and the S K R R T

MinWhore: please stop

Yongbok: hold on i have to find changbin he’s gonna love this

MinWhore: … 

Minho pushed up from the table. He glanced at the greasy fast food bag balled up at the end of the table and grabbed it to throw it out. Before dropping the garbage into his kitchen trash can, Minho thought back to his interaction with the blushing boy. He briefly envisioned the worker’s alarmingly bright uniform polo and greasy strawberry blond hair. Minho thought nothing of these minor details but couldn’t erase the image of the charming smile the worker greeted him with when he first opened the window. It was so charismatic even after becoming embarrassed. He had grown a sheepish grin which Minho couldn’t look away from. 

I have to stop. This is weird, Minho thought to himself. He hoped his regular post practice shower would help shake the boy’s smile from his head, to which it did. He exited his bathroom feeling clean, in terms of both his body and mind.

When Minho had stepped out of the shower, he heard the familiar repeating ring of his phone. He figured someone was calling him, but he was still nude. So Minho dressed, rather leisurely in no rush to answer the call. He figured it was parents, which wouldn’t make sense considering the late hour, but Minho was tired and just wanting to sleep.

Minho pulled on his socks and travelled back into the kitchen to find his phone. A video chat request from Hyunjin was displayed across the screen. He reluctantly accepted the call. 

“Did you stay at the studio long?”

Hyunjin had his phone propped against the oven in his apartment, allowing Minho to see him standing over a boiling from a pot of water. He held in his hand a pair of chopsticks, which he used to stir whatever was inside the pot. Minho assumed it was most likely instant ramen. 

“You’re eating now?” He grimaced. His stomach turned, feeling disgust over the thought of eating after consuming such a greasy meal. Minho would agree that he worked quite hard during practice but he couldn’t help but feel the classic guilt that came with spoiling oneself with fast food. He turned his focus to Hyunjin, trying to ignore the steam billowing up from the pot.

“Not really.”

There was brief silence as Hyunjin ripped a packet of ramen broth flavouring and dumped the red powder into the pot. Minho didn’t speak but he wondered why Hyunjin had called him in the first place. He knew that he wasn’t the best conversationalist; he wasn’t as funny as Felix or had as much to say as Changbin. This wasn’t to say that the trio didn’t ever reach out to Minho, but it was late and he was surprised Hyunjin wanted to talk to him after seeing him so shortly ago. 

He opened his mouth to ask him what he wanted, but was cut off.

“Felix said you went to the drive thru?”

“Oh god.” Minho cursed at himself, thinking that he should’ve known better than to tell Felix anything. Felix could never keep a secret, especially from Hyunjin, a known gossip king. He able to weasel any truth out of anyone, either from observation or interrogation. Hyunjin just grew a small, mischievous smile. 

“He also mentioned something about you meeting a cute boy?”

“That little shit,” Minho swore. He made a mental note to cut off Felix’s arms the next time he saw him.

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Hyunjin began, “You went through the drive thru cause you were too sweaty for the restaurant and then the cute drive thru worker who gave you your food said the words sixty nine…? Which made him blush? And then he dropped your money? And you drove away?” Hyunjin looked very confused, which Minho thought was fair. It had been a weird interaction. 

“Don’t blow this up,” Minho told Hyunjin “It was just a funny thing that happened today but not something that’s going to be an ongoing source of gossip for you and Felix.”

Hyunjin, who acted as if he hadn’t listened to Minho, slammed his chopsticks down and hollered, “A drive thru! A drive thru hyung! How the fuck are you seducing men in a drive thru?”

Minho’s eyes widened.

“Seducing?”

Hyunjin left the view of the camera, but called out, “Don’t act like you don’t know Minho.”

Minho’s confusion grew as he asked, “Know what?”

A loud slam of what Minho assumed was a cupboard came from Hyunjin’s side of the call, followed by him quickly sliding back into the frame with a bowl in hand.

“Know that you’re totally a sex god sent from the heavens but that you brush off anyone who even breaths near you!” He exclaimed.

“A sex god?” Minho chuckled, but when he processed the rest of Hyunjin’s sentence, he frowned. “I do not do that.” 

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to his ramen, which irritated Minho. He felt annoyed that Hyunjin acted like he was being so oblivious to some aspect of his own personality. Though he knew that Hyunjin wasn’t trying to upset him, Minho felt slightly peeved. 

Hyunjin turned the stove top off and transferred his dinner from pot to bowl. Minho stayed silent, pretending to be preoccupied with something off screen, when in actuality he was just picking at a loose thread on the end of his sleeve.

“Hyung, can I ask you something personal?”

Minho looked up at Hyunjin. His stomach tightened slightly.

“Mm…yeah, I guess.”

“What are you scared of?”

“Wha-what?” Minho stuttered, taken aback by Hyunjin’s question. 

“I mean is it commitment? Or...intimacy?” He guessed. “Because I’ve known you for three years, and I’ve never seen you chase a romantic interest ever. Not once.” Minho opened his mouth only to close it, realizing that he didn’t have quick response. His stomach turned, feeling uneasy with the surprising and rather uncomfortable question. Typically his immediate response would have been “no,” but Minho found himself hesitating to speak. “No” was such a small word, but Minho had learned that it could easily deflect any inquiries attacking his intimate feelings.

Hyunjin quietly ate his noodles, watching Minho struggle to build a sentence. He had expected his stunned reaction, but Hyunjin stayed silent, genuinely curious about his verbal response.

“Uh…um,” Minho stumbled, fighting a silent war with himself. He wanted to just say no and move on to a new subject, but he found some part of himself wishing to say something more truthful.

“I…don’t know?” 

He made eye contact with Hyunjin. Minho expected to ask him for a clearer answer, but the other boy just stayed silent. Hyunjin nodded his head, and gave him what Minho took as a sympathetic smile. He appreciated Hyunjin not pressing him further. If he had, Minho wouldn’t have known what else to say. 

“Have you thought about going back to the restaurant sometime? To see the boy?” Hyunjin asked between slurping down his curly noodles.

“Of course not.” Minho immediately responded, but felt like his harsh answer was rude considering the soft moment the two had just had. “Uh, well maybe. Probably not. I don’t know.”

“I’ll go with you on Monday,” Hyunjin offered, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Minho knew Hyunjin would love nothing more than to watch him try to hit on someone. He’d probably start Instagram live so Felix and Changbin could watch too. 

Minho scrunched up his nose and shook his head. “No thanks, I’m good.”

Hyunjin made a few more attempts to get Minho to explicitly say that he will definitely return to the restaurant to see the boy again, but Minho dodged Hyunjin’s offers and questions. Hyunjin eventually gave up badgering him, and the two the two ended their call. 

Minho made his way to his small bedroom, and carried out his regular night time routine. After brushing his teeth, he flicked off the lights still on in the apartment, and slid into bed. Since he had danced for so long, his body gave in to the soft, cushy bedding and he soon fell into a deep sleep. But not before dreaming of the blushing boy’s charismatic smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the lovely comments. It makes me smile seeing you guys enjoy this. 
> 
> Side note: I saw a prompt on tumblr for an au where an underground rapper and the son of rich heir fall in love (or something similar to this) and I was thinking of writing a minsung fic for it. I'm not that well versed in minsung fics so I'm not sure if something like this already exists. I think I would plan for it to be a longer story with more depth, though I haven't fleshed the whole idea out yet. Is something you would be interested in reading? Does it sound similar to something you've already read? Opinions????


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung's turn for a difficult feelings talk ft. Chan

Jisung slammed the window shut and let out a long scream, using his hands to muffle the sound, which was to no avail. Chan, at the front counter, put his hands down and hung his head. 

“This is why we never have customers,” he sighed.

Jisung didn’t hear this, so he yelled again. “I’M GOING TO LAUNCH MYSELF INTO THE SUN!” 

Chan grimaced and silently wished for a time machine. He planned to use it to force Woojin to entrust another employee with the task of covering his shifts.

Jeongin, who had been standing with Chan at the front, looked up at him and asked with partial, “Should I see if he’s okay?” It was still only his first day, but he had already built a strong understanding of Jisung’s headassery. 

Chan shook his head and said, “No, let him come.” Like Chan’s words were a cue, Jisung emerged from the kitchen, dragging his hands down his face.

“What happened?” Jeongin asked.

Simultaneously Chan spoke, “You’re blushing.” Jisung gave him a mortified look and raised a hand the side of his face. Chan had seen Jisung embarrassed before, but a certain aspect of had horror seemed present in his screams.

“So what happened?” He poked.

“A lot.” 

Jisung flopped his body in half like a rag doll, letting his arms sweep the floor.

“Summarize.”

Jisung explained to them what happened, first telling them about the awkward eye contact, then about him dropping the money, and finishing with their awkward goodbye. Chan and Jeongin both reacted in a less dramatic but similar way as Jisung had: cringing.

“I’ve never been more embarrassed in my whole life,” Jisung cried.

“I find that very hard to believe,” Seungmin called from the dish pit, who had turned down his tunes as soon as he heard Jisung slam the window. It wasn’t uncommon for him to make some sort of embarrassing mix up while serving a customer, and Seungmin always loved to hear the story.

“Well, what are the chances you’ll ever see him again? Slim, right?” Jeongin tried to reason. Jisung began to nod but Chan spoke.

“But look he’s blushing,” He pointed out again. “That means you liked him, right?”

Jisung’s heart thumped and he felt blood rush again to his cheeks. With his rising body temperatures, Jisung was nearly sweating. It’s like the boy from the window passed it on to him.

“I couldn’t have like him,” Jisung argued. “We only interacted for five minutes, and we hardly spoke.”

“But you said he smiled at your sixty nine thing,” Chan continued. “And to be honest, if he liked, let alone tolerated, that kind of crackhead behavior of yours, you guys would probably be a good match.” 

“Crackhead behavior?”

Jeongin silently nodded his head. Jisung was unsure if it was with the statement that he was compatible with the other boy or that he was indeed a crackhead. He assumed the latter and began to open his mouth to argue back that he was not a crackhead, but Chan stopped him by covering his mouth.

“Jeongin, you’re shift is over,” Chan calmly informed Jeongin, fighting a flailing Jisung, who was aggressively trying to escape Chan’s hand of silence. 

Chan continued speaking as if Jisung’s flapping and murmured insults were no challenge to him, and offered Jeongin the staff washroom to change out of his uniform. Jeongin refused, saying that he had spotted his mother waiting outside for him. He gestured out the window to a silver car. Chan strained his neck over the counter to look, accidentally releasing Jisung, who tore away in achievement. Then he too followed Jeongin’s point out into the night.

“You’re mom came to get you? At this hour?” Jisung asked, bewildered.

Jeongin gave them a sheepish look and mumbled something about her insisting she pick him up because it was too dangerous for him to travel home alone.

“Well, tell her that she should be very proud,” Chan said, putting a hand on Jeongin’s shoulder. “You did well today.”

Jeongin smiled, though clearly embarrassed, and thanked Chan for his help. When he glanced at Jisung, who grinned at him with bright eyes, he gave him a small thank you as well.

Jeongin waved and turned to leave, but Chan stopped him to ask if he could come in for the weekend to continue with training. Jeongin said that he was fine with that, and offered to work on Monday as well. 

As Jeongin pushed open the glass door of the restaurant, Jisung called out a last “See you tomorrow, Jeonginnie!” which earned him a smile from Jeongin before he ran out to the parking lot. 

Chan and Jisung watched him enter the silver car pulled up outside the restaurant entrance and greet an older woman. Before he even managed to fully settle into his seat, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Jeongin cringed and pulled away. He spoke but it was indiscernible to Chan and Jisung. His mom smiled and lovingly ruffled his hair. He once again leaned away from her, but they both were smiling.

Cute, Jisung thought, watching as the car pulled out and drove away. 

He traveled to the bathroom and changed into his casual clothes, as his shift was ending soon as well, all the while thinking of Jeongin’s mom waiting to pick him up. He started work that afternoon knowing that his mom would be waiting to hear about whatever happened to him during his first day, good or bad. And she had parked outside, sitting in her car seat, preparing to either comfort her son on his rough first shift or celebrate his success in his new job. Jisung thought about how nice it would to have someone waiting for him, waiting to listen about his day. Someone to patiently sit in small car, in the dark, at such a late hour, just to drive him home and listen to the hardships of his day. 

The next day, Chan was busy trying to track down a lost shipment of coke that had been due to arrive at the restaurant weeks ago. Too on the go to properly help him, Chan tasked Jisung the job of training Jeongin. Jisung was, of course, elated and started off by teaching Jeongin how to work the windows. It was going well, until the two arrived at the mechanics of the headset. 

“Wait so are these the on and off buttons?” Jeongin asked, pointing to buttons on the right side of the cheap headset.

Jisung raised his eyebrows and quickly corrected him. “No, no, no! Those are volume buttons. Here are the power buttons.” Jisung pointed to a pair of small, black bumps on the other side of the headphones. 

“When you press the top one it turns green, which indicates that it is on. When you press the bottom one it turns red, and you guessed it! It means off.” Jisung clicked both buttons in demonstration. Jeongin just nodded along, seeming to understand.

Then Jisung lowered his voice and leaned in slightly to Jeongin, as if revealing a secret. “Now let me tell you, my young grasshopper, that it is imperative that you learn the functions and distinction between these two sets of buttons.”

Jeongin, sensing a story displaying more of Jisung’s stupidity, asked him why. 

Jisung’s face became slightly solemn as he mumbled, “You’re familiar with the penis game, right?”

As a young, high school student Jeongin naturally was familiar with the infamous penis game. He had never taken part, but many times he had watched his peers say the word, daring each other to go above a whisper. Once a kid had the guts to full out screech ‘penis,’ while the teacher had been helping Jeongin understand a math question. The kid got suspended for two days. Something about Jisung remind him a lot about that kid. 

“Let me just tell you that playing the penis game with Felix with your mic still on does not make Woojin happy,” Jisung said before adding, “Also, note that customers generally don’t like being greeted with you screaming ‘penis’ when they pull up in the drive thru.”

Jeongin, at a loss for words, gave Jisung a weary look. 

“Anyway, yeah. Learn the buttons,” Jisung told him.

The rest of day ran smoothly, though Chan would have chosen the word regular, as Jisung did break another glass. At the end of the day Jisung and Chan gathered to send off Jeongin.

“Bye Jeonginnie,” They chorused, as the young boy gave final grin and wave, his silver braces glinting in the white light of the restaurant.

As if a replay of the night before, Jisung watched as Jeongin reunited with his mother in the car. Her coat sleeves bunched up as she gave him a hug, and instead of pulling out of it Jeongin gave her one back. Jisung’s eyes followed the car as the drove off. 

“What’s wrong?” Chan asked. His sudden speaking startled Jisung and so he tensed slightly. “You look a little...down?”

“I’m not,” Jisung lied, purposely not meeting his eyes.

“You sure? You had this same look yesterday when Jeongin left.”

Jisung was slightly surprised that Chan had been so observant as to catch his reaction the other night, though he shouldn’t have been as Chan had always been able to read him well. His attentive eye was what made him a great manager and a better friend.

“It’s...I don’t know,” Jisung hesitated to speak. He felt comfortable enough with Chan that he could openly share his feelings, but with Woojin being gone, Chan was more stressed, and Jisung didn’t want to trouble him. But when he looked up and saw Chan’s encouraging face and patient eyes, he explained himself.

“It’s just something about seeing him run out to his mom. Like he just knows she’s waiting there for him. It’s so sweet!” Jisung said. “Ugh!”

Chan leaned back against the counter behind him and raised his eyebrows. “And that makes you sad?”

Jisung squinted. “No, well...I just wished I had someone who’d do that for me, you know? I mean, not necessarily my mom, but someone.” 

Chan chuckled, “Like a cute boy?” He wiggled his eyebrows, which made Jisung laugh.

“Yeah, exactly.” 

He briefly thought of the sweaty customer he served on Friday. He was a cute boy. Jisung would die to have him waiting for him after work, sweat and all. 

“Well, what happened with that guy a couple months ago? The one who worked at the gas station across from here,” Chan asked. “You used to ogle at him through the windows all the time. Or what about the handsome regular who used to eat here every Wednesday? Didn’t you want to ask him out?”

Jisung took a second to process the people Chan referred to. Naturally, the sweaty boy had not been the first guy Jisung had blushed over. He remembered the countless days he spent gazing at pretty men that passed through the restaurant. Most of the interactions went roughly the same as they had with the boy from Friday. Jisung’s heart pounded, his face flushed, and he choked on his words, then the man in question would disappear into world, never to be seen again. There were a few exceptions; boys that came back more than once, the one’s Chan had referenced, but nothing ever came of them either. Jisung held back from making a move, too scared to take a chance and put his heart out there.

“I-I don’t know,” He stammered. “I just never got around to talking with them, I guess.” Jisung slung his arm across his chest to rest a hand on his shoulder, feeling a shame-like emotion creeping up on him.

“Why?”

“Dunno. I was nervous, and I didn’t know how to approach them properly,” He admitted.

Chan nodded in understanding. He had been present during most of Jisung’s embarrassing interactions and temporary crushes on customers. 

Hoping that Jisung being open would help him feel more at ease in his situation, Chan chose to press further and ask, “What were you nervous about?”

Instantly, Jisung knew the answer, and he confessed that it was taking a chance. He said rejection as well but brushed it off saying that it was a common and somewhat less problematic issue.

“Taking a chance, huh? I have a feeling that this runs deeper than not being able to hit on a few guys,” Chan guessed.

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Lemme guess: it has something to do with turning down Changbin’s proposal of forming a band.”

Chan was spot on, to no one’s surprise. 

“Dammit Chan. You’re good. Fuck a band, have you considered becoming a counsellor?” Jisung joked. “Honestly though, you’re pretty right. I just feel like that band could’ve really been it for us. We could’ve done some awesome things. Who knows where it might have taken us.”

It was Chan’s turn to look down. He didn’t seem ashamed, instead it was more in a sad agreement sense. He linked his hands and rested them on his legs. When Chan didn’t say anything, Jisung spoke again.

“Like Felix dances and Seungmin is always humming in the back to DAY6. They could have joined us. Sometimes I think we should’ve taken that chance Chan.” 

Chan sighed. Jisung sighed too. He caught a glimpse of Chan’s eye bags and regretted steering the conversation into such a troubling topic, especially as he was about to end his shift. Still, he couldn’t deny that it felt good speaking the truth. 

“You know Jisung,” Chan finally spoke. “You’re life isn’t ending today. You still have countless opportunities to take chances.”

“I know but-” Jisung started only to be cut off. 

“Next time you find yourself in this kind of situation, remember how you feel now. Then should be easily able to take the chance.” 

That shut Jisung up easily. 

The two boy’s conversation didn’t last much longer. Chan said a few more things about keeping positive and that Jisung shouldn’t feel as though he threw away his one and only shot. Jisung nodded along, feeling listening to the truth. He admitted that his regrets weighed down on him hard, but he thanked Chan for waking him up. While he still felt bad for exhausted Chan having to be the one to drag him back to his senses, he was glad he did. 

After Jisung changed out of his uniform, the two said their goodbyes, and Jisung stepped out into the night. He made his way into his car but found himself hesitating to start it up. He thought back to what Chan had told him, remembering how he said that the next time Jisung found himself needing to make a choice, he could reflect on his regrets and take a risk. When Chan had said it, Jisung felt strong, but as he backed out of the parking lot, Jisung felt unsure if he could follow through in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longer chapter. I wanted to try and keep the word count consistent throughout the story, but here we are 1000 extra words later :/ 
> 
> Thank you again for the comments wwowwow. Still can't believe people people are reading this????


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunjin, Felix and Changbin work on getting Minho back to the restaurant.

“Are you going to see him again tonight?”

Minho twisted his body to face the studio door where Hyunjin stood. He turned and closed it behind him, dropping his bag by the wall. 

Minho had gotten to the dance studio earlier than Felix and Hyunjin. He didn’t wait for them, instead choosing to begin stretching and warming up his body. Alone in silence, Minho planned out a variety of answers and responses to the prying questions he predicted Hyunjin and Felix were going to badger him with. The two had pestered him all weekend, sending him endless streams of texts, urging him to return to the fast food joint. Minho became so bothered by the noise his phone made every few seconds, alerting him of a new message, that he turned his notification ringer to silent and muted both chats. 

“Hyung,” Hyunjin called, snapping Minho’s attention back to him. “Are you going to go? Why did you stop responding to our texts?” 

Minho carefully picked the latter question to answer. “The sound of the notifications was so distracting. You guys are annoying.”

Hyunjin rolled his eyes and started to protest when the door swung open and crashed against the wall with a loud bang. Felix burst into the room, only to be hit by the door as it violently bounced back at him. He swore but recovered quickly, excitedly turning to Hyunjin and Minho. 

“Are we going?” He asked, a large smile plastered on his face.

“We?” Minho asked. He frowned, not liking Felix’s eager attitude. 

“Yeah, we!” Changbin said, entering the room. He slipped his hand into Felix’s. 

Minho threw a hand up in the air. They hadn’t even been there for a minute, yet they were already trying to drag him to the drive thru. Minho wondered if he should’ve just skipped practice and stayed home. 

“So, we are?” Felix asked again. 

“No. Definitely not,” Minho replied, but his voice was drowned out by Changbin.

“We need to devise a plan,” He said. He lead Felix over to the ground where Minho had been effortlessly extending his arm to grab hold of the end of his sneaker. He sat down crossed legged across from him. Hyunjin and Felix also sat but did not move into a stretch. 

Minho’s forehead creased. “A plan? Guys, what about practice?”

“Practice?” Felix gaped. “Hyung, we’re trying to land you a boyfriend! Isn’t that more important than practice?”

Minho immediately replied, “no,” but his voice, once again, fell upon deaf ears as the boys continued on squawking about the importance of dating the drive thru boy. Minho realized that arguing with them would only be a waste of his energy. And since he couldn’t dance with them all sitting in the center of the room, Minho gave in and ceased stretching. 

For the next hour, the four boys worked on crafting a ‘master plan,’ as Changbin called it, to get Minho to have a successful interaction with the blushing drive thru worker. Minho complained and disagreed with nearly every idea Felix, Hyunjin, and Changbin thought of, but they ignored him. He was older than all three, but they felt as though they were much better versed in the dating world. Changbin and Felix still going strong after two years was good enough proof to shut Minho up after Changbin smugly pointed it out.

“How about we run through the whole thing so everybody is on the same page?” Hyunjin suggested. Felix and Changbin nodded. Minho rolled his eyes. 

Felix started, “Okay so, step one: Changbin, Hyunjin, and I enter the restaurant. Minho, you’ll wait a few minutes before lining up in the drive thru.”

“Why are you guys even coming? You have absolutely no reason to be there,” Minho complained.

“We have three reasons to be there,” Hyunjin retorted. He held out his fingers and listed them off. “One: to make sure you actually go, two: support if it goes bad, three: our own entertainment.”

When Minho gave him a dirty look Changbin added, “Yeah. Whether this flops or you actually land him, this is bound to be a great story.” Minho huffed.

“We don’t even know if he’s going to be there,” He grunted.

“Of course he is!” Hyunjin assured him. He said it as if it was such a natural given. Minho did not agree.

“But how do you know?” He challenged. 

“Because God is real and he wouldn’t do you dirty like that,” Felix joked but said it with a matter of fact tone. Minho rolled his eyes again. 

“This is so dumb.” 

Hyunjin patted Minho’s leg. “This is a good way to step out of your comfort zone.”

Minho’s stomach turned, feeling uncomfortable thinking of what he was getting lead into. He looked at his three friends, all sitting cross legged around him. They all nodded in agreement with Hyunjin’s words and gave him encouraging smiles. It was either that or shit eating grins. Minho found it hard to tell with them.

“Oh my god, fine,” He gave in, throwing his head back. The boys all cheered at gave each other high fives. Felix punched the air.

“But if promise to do it, can we at least get in half an hour of practice before we go?” 

Changbin stopped smiling and immediately answered, “No, no, no. You’ll be gross and sweaty.”

“Don’t you know that’s a major turn on for some people?” Hyunjin said.

“Ew, literally for who?” Felix cringed.

“The random guy blushing over him apparently,” Hyunjin smiled and laughed, the other two chuckling with him. 

Minho did not laugh. He had reached his limit of tolerance. He stood up quickly and rushed to connect his phone to the speakers.

“That’s it. We’re starting now. Come on get up.”

The boys practiced as Minho had wanted, though they complained frequently. No one could truly focus on dancing given the situation. The boys, excluding Minho, were itching to race to the restaurant. They were nervous and excited for him, so much so, it was as if they themselves were in his situation. 

Minho seemed to be the only one of them acting somewhat normal. He connected with the music instantly and threw himself into dancing, twisting and turning, hitting every move passionately. He found that the extreme concentration to be a good way to kill off any stressful thoughts. It also helped him work up a healthy sweat, which Hyunjin gave him a cheeky smile for.

Although Minho wanted to continue on, the eventually boys forced him to stop after the thirty minutes was up. It was for the best, as Minho would have slept at the studio to avoid going to the restaurant if left alone. Though he did try to weasel out of it several times, claiming he was too tired or that he rolled his ankle, the boys showed him no mercy and dragged him out of the building.

When they all finally got outside, Felix left Changbin’s side to ride with Minho in his car. Changbin and Hyunjin agreed that it was best, seeing as Minho would most definitely drive home without one of them accompanying him. The boys then temporarily parted ways as they left to meet up at the restaurant. 

When Minho pulled up to the dimly lit parking lot of the restaurant, he unlocked the doors and motioned for Felix to move.

“What? I can’t watch from the backseat?” Felix joked.

Minho shook his head; he was in no mood for laughs. Felix climbed out of his car but didn’t shut the door. 

“Don’t worry. Hyung, you’ve got this,” Felix reassured him. He gave him a sincere look. “Don’t get caught up in your head. You’re at your smoothest when you don’t try. You don’t even need to anyways. You’re going-”

“Save it,” Minho cut him off. He leaned over and pulled the door closed. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

The boys made him promise to not drive off after he got his food. That way he could tell them how it went in person right away. Changbin told him to park back in the lot and they’d meet him after they got food too. 

“Good luck!” Felix called as Minho drove away. 

He steered his car slowly into the drive thru. There was one car already ahead of him, but no sight of anyone else pulling up. He gripped the his steering wheel tightly and waited for the person ahead of him to move forward. His heart was beating fast, quicker than it did during practice. He struggled to slow it down. Minho tried breathing steadily, but he found that all he could manage was a shaky exhale. Silently, Minho cursed himself for rejecting Felix’s attempt of hyping him up. He felt exposed and vulnerable. As stupid as it would’ve been, he almost wished Felix had stayed and sat in the backseat. He would’ve felt less alone.

“Hello and welcome! How may I take your order?” 

A peppy voice startled Minho. His heart rate spiked, nearly choking him. He looked up and saw that the car in front of him was driving to the far window, leaving the spot where the speaker machine was empty. Minho rolled forward.

“Yeah, hi,” He said. His voice was weak so he cleared his throat, as that could bring back his lost confidence. “Can I please get a cheese burger, medium fries, and a large coke?”

“Sure, anything else?”

Minho quickly said no and drove to the next window, feeling extremely unready to face his fears and maybe hit on stranger. When he was parallel to window, as subtly as he could, Minho peeked into the window of the drive thru. His racing heart slowed and sank as he watched a young looking, brown haired boy bustle around on the other side, assembling his order. It wasn’t the blushing worker from Friday night. Minho mentally swore, thinking that he was foolish to get his hopes so high. He definitely should’ve stayed home.

Minho looked again to see if he had perhaps seen wrong and that the brown haired boy was actually strawberry blonde. His eyes carefully traveled over the edge of his car door and into the window. Immediately, his shoulders dropped, seeing the same worker. But his eyes did a double take when he saw that the worker inside was staring at him as well. The young boy’s eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open, revealing a line of braces. He looked shocked, but Minho didn’t understand why. Minho gave him a concerned look and the worker blinked, seemingly to snapping out of his trance. He quickly composed himself, and flashed Minho a sheepish smile, before spinning around and running away from the window. 

That’s when Minho heard distant shouting. It sounded like it was coming from behind him, but when he looked in his rearview mirror, he saw no other cars in line. 

“Hyung! Hyung!”

Movement caught Minho’s eye as he turned to face the window again. The young worker was jumping and waving to someone out of sight. Minho realized that it was the boy yelling. 

His mic, Minho thought. He must not have turned it off. I’m hearing it from the drive thru speaker. 

Although he had pieced that much together, Minho was still confused about what had caused the worker’s sudden reaction.

“Hyung! He’s back! He’s back!”

The boy waved his arm excitedly, motioning for someone to come towards him. Minho frowned. He thought it seemed rather rude to suddenly start chatting with someone else in the middle of fixing his order up. It also struck him as unprofessional to leave his mic on.

There was some muffled talking. Minho assumed it was someone else talking with the boy. He leaned back in his seat to get a better view of the mystery person. He caught a glimpse of the restaurant uniform classic black visor, but he couldn’t stretch far enough to see the face it belonged to. He pushed his feet into the carpet of his car, straining to see past an unidentifiable nose. Suddenly, the young boy’s much more discernible voice spoke out again. 

“Your cute sweaty boy is back!” 

Minho froze.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongin’s mistake forces Jisung to face his fears.

Jisung had spent the first four hours of his Monday night shift working the windows with Jeongin. When he had finished school and arrived at the restaurant, he and Jisung picked up from the previous day and reviewed everything he had learned. Jeongin was a good listener and seemed to understand the gist of it, so Jisung felt that Jeongin could easily run a window by himself. So to Jeongin comfortable running the drive thru, Jisung gave up his usual window position to him.

Jisung assumed he’d been doing well because he hadn’t heard from Jeongin in a while. He made a mental note to check in on him after he restocked the paper cups at the front counter. Jisung travelled leisurely to the back of the kitchen, past the dishpit to grab the cups from the storage room, but stopped when he heard shouting. 

“Hyung! Hyung!”

Jisung turned, hearing Jeongin’s high pitched shout. He worried that something had gone wrong, but when he saw Jeongin rushing to him with a big smile on his face, relief coursed through his body.

“Hyung! He’s back! He’s back!” Jeongin bubbled, motioning for Jisung to walk to him. Jisung reluctantly left the entrance of the storage and asked Jeongin what he was talking about.

“Your cute, sweaty boy is back!” He exclaimed, eyes sparkling.

Jisung laughed a bit, slightly embarrassed by Jeongin calling the sweaty boy his. Jisung could only wish. 

Jeongin gestured with his head backwards to the drive thru. “Yeah! He’s right at the window. It’s your chance! Your second chance!” 

Although he had been hesitant to warm to Jisung, Jeongin was beyond excited to have recognized the boy he had described the previous day. While he still felt unsure about how well he and Jisung would get along, Jeongin felt slightly invested in the romantic aspect of Jisung’s life, especially now that he had the opportunity to help him with it.

“Hyung! Are you listening?” Jeongin asked. He was confused why Jisung wasn’t reacting. Jeongin had guessed that he would either be elated or mortified upon hearing the news, but Jisung didn’t show any facial expressions at all. Instead, Jisung’s eyes were pinned to the side of his face. What Jeongin didn’t realize was that Jisung was actually looking at a glowing button on the right side of his headset. It was shining a bright green. Jisung’s stomach instantly dropped.

“Jeongin!” He cried, jerking his hands forward to seize the headset. Jeongin, surprised by the sudden attack from Jisung, threw up his arms to block him. This caused Jisung to awkwardly try to reach around, but Jeongin ducked away. The two continued to fumble, until Jisung got desperate and straight out ripped the headset off Jeongin’s head.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jeongin asked irritated. He rubbed his ears in minor pain.

As a response, Jisung silently directed a finger to the glowing ON button and then to the black OFF button. It took a second for Jeongin to realize what Jisung was pointing to, but when he did he quickly reached out for the headset and switched them off. He gave Jisung an embarrassed and apologetic look. 

Jisung let out a long sigh of relief, followed by a groan of embarrassment. He felt his face grow hot as he thought about the boy outside hearing what Jeongin has been saying. He couldn’t imagine how he was reacting; he assumed it wasn’t positively. 

“Maybe he didn’t hear anything,” Jisung said, though he didn’t hold much confidence. 

Jeongin gave him an uneasy look and said, “I think he probably did.” He pointed to the drive thru window and Jisung’s gaze followed. 

Although the layer of glass muddied the view, Jisung was able to make out the guy from Friday, sweat and all, staring at him with a mixed look. He looked shocked, embarrassed, and slightly humoured, judging by his open hanging smile. Jisung’s heartbeat picked up once again and he felt his pink blush creep down his neck and spread down his chest. With the boy’s dark eyes trained on him, his whole body burned in embarrassment. 

To escape the sudden spotlight Jisung felt on himself, he took a step back to hide behind the large drink machine, setting the headset on the counter beside it. Jeongin flashed a smile to the boy and gave a small wave before stepping back in the opposite direction from Jisung to conceal himself as well.

Jeongin’s smile faded as he shifted his attention to Jisung. 

“What are you doing?” He hissed. 

Jisung’s brows knitted together. “What? What do you mean? What are you doing?”

Jeongin slapped his hand to his head in frustration. Jisung had chosen the mortified reaction. Jeongin would have preferred Jisung to have been elated, as it would’ve been easier to to get him to break out of his shell, but he did enjoy seeing Jisung panic.

“Get out there!” Jeongin instructed.

Neither boy had any awareness that customer outside could still clearly see both of them. Jisung, spazzing out, made a lot of noticeable movements with his hands, and Jeongin hadn’t really stepped back far enough. There tense conversation was very apparent to the boy, who’s confusion was growing with every second. He did enjoy it though. It had been very entertaining to see them fight over the headset. 

“Me? This is your customer! You do it!” Jisung gaped. He couldn’t believe that Jeongin was really trying to throw him out there, especially after he did him so dirty with the headset situation. 

“No way," Jeongin shook his head. This is your chance hyung."

Jisung continued to protest but Jeongin was adamant that Jisung had to complete the order. He told Jisung the three things the guy had ordered and encouraged him to make an attempt at small talk while he assembled the order. Jisung explained that he was too flustered to even say hello. Jeongin ignored him and assured him that he would do fine. When this wasn't enough, he pulled the "second chance" card, reminding Jisung that he was blessed with the opportunity to try again. 

If Jisung had been in the right head space, he would've wondered how Jeongin knew about his struggles with taking risks and regrets over not taking chances. If confronted, Jeongin would've confessed that Seungmin confessed that Chan confessed about Jisung's personal problems. Jeongin, who had only worked for a few days, was becoming scarred at how easily his coworkers gossiped about each other. 

“Hyung, look, here’s the burger. Just grab the coke and the fries,” Jeongin said. He plopped a greasy, wrapped burger onto the window counter. Jisung stayed still as Jeongin grabbed a paper cup and placed it in his own hands. If not for the situation, Jisung would’ve been impressed at his younger co-worker’s initiative. 

“Tell me how it goes,” Jeongin told Jisung, handing him a straw before beginning to walk away into the kitchen. 

Since he was in a panicked state, everything Jeongin said Jisung processed a few seconds after he said them. And although Jeongin had started to leave, Jisung was still thinking about what he had said the boy ordered.

Burger, fries, and coke, Jisung thought. Coke...

Suddenly, Jisung reached out and caught Jeongin’s arm before he walked out of reach. Jeongin spun around in surprise.

“Wait, did you say he ordered coke?” Jisung asked, a dreadful feeling creeping up on him. Jeongin nodded slowly. He was confused. 

“Yeah. What’s the problem?”

Jisung winced. He threw the empty cup down onto the counter and pointed to drink machine where the coke dispenser was. The picture of the red can was the only beverage not lit up on the machine, signalling there was no liquid in it’s container. It had been a few days, but Chan still could not locate the missing shipment of the fizzy drink. 

“We’re out, remember? The shipment got lost!” Jisung cried. He sank to his knees dramatically. Jeongin’s mouth formed a silent "oh." 

“Just, uh, just…” Jeongin searched for guidance to give. His lack of familiarity with the job was showing. “Uh...what do you usually do when you run out of something?”

Jisung groaned and explained that they had to inform the customer and ask if they could switch it for something else. He confessed that it was one of his least favourite things he had to do because no one was ever happy to hear that they wouldn’t be able to get something they wanted. Drive thru customers were especially difficult because they were typically impatient people. He was surprised to hear that Jeongin hadn’t encountered anyone ordering coke that day as he already had to deal with several upset people. 

Jeongin gave him a sympathetic look, but didn’t suggest that the two swap places again. He wished Jisung “good luck” before quickly scurrying off so Jisung couldn’t start complaining again.

When Jeongin was out of sight, Jisung turned his body back to the direction of the drive thru, knowing that there was no hope left and he that had to finish the order. In a cautious manner, Jisung stepped out from behind the drink machine. There was no turning back. 

Without looking up from the dirty tiled floor, Jisung walked to the window. With unsteady hands, he nervously grabbed hold of the cold metal handle and slid it to the right. Instantly a chill breeze rushed to greet him, but it did nothing to calm his hot temperature. Jisung gave himself an extra second to brush on his faux, customer service beam, before lifting his head up to lock eyes with the infamous cute, sweaty boy.

Although Jisung had already seen the boy through the window earlier, he still felt taken aback face to face with him. It was like viewing him in high definition. The overhead lamps cast a light that lit up his face, revealing the light sheen of sweat covering his face. Jisung wouldn’t admit to anyone, but he thought this made the boy look very attractive. 

He flashed Jisung a smile, one that showed both his confusion and amusement. Jisung’s heart skipped a beat as he marvelled over the sweaty boy’s smile. His teeth were a bright, pearly white, which Jisung admired even though he wasn’t a very clean-kept person himself. Jisung felt his cheeks bunch as a grin spread across his own face. What was odd about this action was that when dealing with customers Jisung rarely smiled genuinely. It was usually a fake, friendly smile that expressed a false feeling of joy and pleasure to be doing his job, as if he wanted nothing more than to be bagging burgers all day. This smile came naturally, without Jisung even having to put on a mask.

“Hey,” Jisung greeted, “Sorry about um...all that.” He gave a quick glance over his shoulder to see Jeongin and Seungmin watching him from the kitchen behind a large tower of eating trays. Seungmin had out his phone and seemed to be taking a video of Jisung. He liked to record videos of the ridiculous happenings of the restaurant. Jisung featured in a lot of them. He gave them both a frown before turning back to face his customer.

The boy let out a soft chuckle and replied, “Uh, no problem.”

Jisung’s smile faded slightly as he remembered why he had opened the window prematurely in the first place. He gathered his wits and broke the news. He waited quietly, fearful that the sweaty boy’s patient behavior would be replaced by irritation. His eyes fell back down to his sneakers. 

“Yikes,” The boy said. “People must be mad.”

Jisung's eyes darted back out the window. He was surprised by the boy’s sympathy. It was the opposite reaction of what he was expecting.

“About the coke shortage?” 

The boy nodded. 

“Yeah uh, customers have been getting really angry,” Jisung admitted. He took off his visor and quickly ran a hand through his greasy hair. He looked to the boy for a reaction, waiting for him to change his demeanour. Instead, he stared back at him understandingly. 

Jisung decided to speak again, since the boy seemed like he was listening. “A lady told me she’s planning on suing.”

The boy in car raised his eyebrows and laughed. Jisung watched a few beads of sweat fly off the ends of his hair as his shoulders bounced. 

“Really?” He said, baffled. Jisung chuckled at his response. The threat of being sued was nothing new to Jisung or the other staff. Throughout his years being an employee at a fast food restaurant, Jisung had heard much worse. 

“Oh yeah,” He said. “You would be surprised at how important coke is to some people. The shortage is really hitting some people hard.”

“Oh, I relate,” The boy said, matching Jisung’s sarcasm. “Honestly, maybe I should sue too,”

“Oh yeah?” Jisung asked, his leaned his arms on the edge of the window sill. “How much money would you try to get out of us? Keep in mind we get like two customers an hour. We have no business, no money.” 

The boy looked to the ceiling of his car and pretended to think. He tapped his chin, deep in thought. 

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe...sixty nine cents?” 

Jisung remembered their previous interaction and burst out laughing. He could feel his embarrassment fading, feeling more comfortable cracking jokes. Flirting was not one of his strong suits but humour definitely was.

“Hey, we should be suing you for that.”

The boy’s mouth dropped open. “What do you mean? I literally gave the coins to you, and then you dropped it. It’s not my fault!” 

Jisung rolled his eyes dramatically. “Well, all I know is that I asked for ten dollars and sixty nine cents, and when I registered the cash into the machine there was only ten dollars. Sooo…”

The boy’s eyes narrowed. “What are you implying?”

“Nothing,” Jisung said, shrugging. “But our company lawyer will be contacting you shortly.”

Both boys laughed at Jisung’s joke. Inside his head, Jisung’s inner self did a fist pump in the air for having a smooth conversation with the cute boy.

When the laughter died down, Jisung remembered that he was at work and whether he was flirting with a cute boy or not, it was his job to provide him with food, which had probably been growing cold. Jisung asked if he could get orange juice for him instead of coke and the boy said it would be okay, so Jisung shut the window and moved speedily to complete the order. He could see Jeongin and Seungmin still watching him, but he just ignored them. 

When he finished bagging the food and filling up a cup of orange juice, Jisung reopened the window, this time more eagerly. He passed the food to the boy, who put it on his passenger seat before digging around in a black wallet for the money. When he finished counting the correct amount, Jisung held out his hand to take it.

The boy in the car smirked and said, “You’re going to catch it this time?”

“Of course!” Jisung assured him, grinning back cheekily.

The boy gave him the money, and as just as Jisung had promised he added it to the till without losing any change. Jisung then printed his receipt, and the boy slid his hand back onto his steering wheel. Jisung’s interaction with the boy was ending just like it did with everyone one of his other customers. He felt a bit sad, but felt glad that he had listen to Jeongin and talked to the boy. 

The receipt printer beeped to let Jisung know it was finished. He tore if off and leaned out the window to pass it to the sweaty boy. He thanked him and began to shift into drive when Jisung stopped him.

“Um, uh, just to make it easier on the company lawyer, what name should he put down for you in the spot of the defendant?”

Jisung’s heart pounded in his ears, his blood pumping rapidly. Last minute, with no thought of how it may play out, Jisung had just not so subtly asked a cute boy for his name. Mentally, Jisung groaned at his stupidity, sure that the boy would just high tail it away. He was confident that he had just destroyed all chances of ever seeing the boy again. 

But then the boy spoke.

“Minho,” He said. “Lee Minho.”

He was smirking again.

“And very bold of you to assume I won’t be countersuing you...” The boy leaned out of his car window towards Jisung. When Jisung realized that he was trying to read the name tag pinned to his polo, he puffed out his chest to help him see it. 

“Han.”

Jisung’s heart fluttered as he heard his last name come out of Minho’s mouth. He was glad that he had chosen his simple last name to display on the name tag because Jisung was sure he would’ve melted into a blubbering mess if Minho had called him by his real name. 

Flustered by hearing his name, Jisung choked out, “Okay. See you in court.”

Jisung couldn’t say for sure, but Minho seemed to have grown more confident after seeing him blush once again. This only made Jisung blush more furiously. He was almost glad that their interaction was ending because he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. 

“You too,” Minho replied, adding a wink to the end of his sentence. He started his car and pulled away from the window, rolling out of the drive thru. Jisung watched him leave.

When his car was out of sight, Jisung shut the window softly and smiled to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When writing this I felt like the entire chapter was just them smiling at each other. If I had a dollar for everytime I had to write smile or grin...or Jisung blushing... Literally a dollar for everytime Jisung blushes could pay for my university tuition.
> 
> Also, as always, thank you for the comments. Hope you enjoy this chapter too!! <3
> 
> (also might have to make this fic longer than 8 chapters. i'm unsure if i can wrap it up in just one more :/ )


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who dislike longer chapters, I'm really sorry. It just felt weird to divide this chapter into two parts. Looking at how long this is, I probably should have but I'd rather just keep it this way now. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading till the end<3

Yongbok: hyung! was that u driving out of the drive thru just now 

Yongbok: hold on we’re coming in sec we’re just waiting for the food lol

Yongbok: but how did it go???????

Yongbok: wait i don’t want to know

Yongbok: wait i do

Yongbok: wait

MinWhore: i saw his name tag

Yongbok: OOO and?

MinWhore: it’s Han

Yongbok: Han what?

MinWhore: idk that was it

Yongbok: lmaoooo

Yongbok: who tf is named Han

MinWhore: him i guess

Yongbok: i’m surprised i don’t recognize it

Yongbok: i’m here like everyday lol

Yongbok: but i’m positive i’ve never met anyone named Han

MinWhore: :(((((

Yongbok: hang on

Felix looked up from his phone and scanned the kitchen. Several different workers were bustling around, weaving through the kitchen like busy ants. All of them Felix knew, albeit not well, but well enough to know their names. He considered finding Chan to see if he knew the mysterious ‘Han’, but Jisung stumbled into view, looking rather frazzled. His face was pink and he had on a dazed smile.

Thinking Jisung must know most, if not all, of the staff and their names, Felix called out to him.

“Jisung!” 

Jisung jumped, startled. His smile faded as he looked around for the voice calling him. Felix jumped and waved dramatically to catch his attention, which worked. Jisung spotted him and waved back. 

Without shouting too loudly, as not to disturb the other customers, Jisung asked, “Who here is named Han?”

He waited for a response but Jisung didn’t speak, instead he cocked his head and squinted. He pointed to himself, but Felix took this as confusion. Thinking that maybe Jisung hadn’t heard him right, he repeated his question louder. Slowly, Jisung raised a hand to his shirt and pointed to his name tag. Felix rolled his eyes. 

“Yes! Name tag!” He exclaimed. “Who here has ‘Han’ written on their name tag?”

Jisung pursed his lips and squinted even more. Astonished that Jisung still didn’t understand him, Felix threw up his hands in the air. Rising from the seat he’d been waiting on, he took a few steps towards the front counter to ask his question a third time, but was interrupted by Changbin rushing past him, clutching several paper bags of food. Hyunjin followed quickly behind him, hugging drinks to his chest. 

“Felix, haul ass!” Changbin yelled, pushing open the glass door with his elbow. “We gotta get to Minho!”

Felix gave Jisung a final look, but gave up on him after he just shrugged, and quickly dashed out of the restaurant to catch up with the boys. 

Minho was parked right beside their cars and they quickly flocked to him. Minho rolled down the window, but the boys ran straight passed the driver side and climbed into his vehicle. The first few minutes passed with the three boys bombarding Minho with questions, but as they were all babbling incoherently at once, Minho couldn’t make out what they were saying. Eventually, Changbin took the lead as the main interrogator and urged Minho to tell them everything. But in typical Minho fashion, he told them the bare minimum, leaving out all the exciting details. When Changbin told him to ‘cut the vague shit,’ Minho mentioned how Han couldn’t stop blushing when they talked, which made all of them clap and squeal like school girls. They agreed it was a sure sign that the two had real chemistry. 

“So, is it safe to say you’re definitely coming back?” Hyunjin asked. 

He held his breath. The restaurant worker and the customer. It seemed like a cheesy romance movie, too good to be true. But Hyunjin didn’t trust that Minho was ready to fully commit yet. 

Minho didn’t say anything, but Hyunjin got his answer when he caught a small smile cross his lips. The three boys laughed at their hyung’s response. Never had they seen Minho like someone before, and they found him navigating the dating world in his twenties very entertaining.

For the next half hour the boys munched on their food, spilling pop on Minho’s car seats and ketchup drips on the headrests. They were all tired, despite not dancing earlier. The adrenaline rush from Minho’s drive thru operation had worn them out. Although tired, the four kept talking about how Minho should continue his pursuit of the drive thru boy. After a long back and forth, Minho agreed to return on Friday.

When they’d finished all the food and every empty wrapper was a rolled ball on the car floor, Hyunjin, Changbin, and Felix decided to go home. The four said their goodbyes and parted ways. But Minho didn’t drive out with the rest of them. Instead he lingered in the parking lot for a few more minutes. He gave the restaurant a final stare. It’s glowing signs advertised a guaranteed fun time. Minho laughed to himself, and drove off.

\--

The next day was a quiet one. Seungmin would accredit that to Jisung’s absence, but service was usually slow on the early days of the week. He almost missed Jisung and Felix, as their rowdiness, at the very least, provided him with a good source of entertainment. 

He had been getting ready to go on break when he got a call from Woojin. Since not many customers were coming in, there was little dishes to clean, so he didn’t feel shame for accepting the call. Seungmin had been the best at keeping in touch with Woojin out of the staff because he acted as his eyes while he was away. While Chan did a lot of work, it was Woojin that was what kept things running smoothly. Since he was so far away, Woojin worried heavily about the function and upkeep of the restaurant.

“We’re fine,” Seungmin insisted.

Woojin wasn’t convinced. “Really?”

Seungmin sighed into the phone pressed between his shoulder and ear. He pulled off his rubber dishwashing gloves, and reassured Woojin that no conflicts had arisen. 

“I think Chan lost a shipment of coke, but it’s coming in tomorrow. He was stressed, but he’s okay now. And the others have been training that new kid, Jeongin. He’s been good.”

“But Jisung,” Woojin interrupted. “What about Jisung?”

Seungmin laughed. “Actually Jisung’s fine too. He’s been coming in with a grin lately. He’s, dare I say, excited to work your night shifts?”

Seungmin wondered if the call’s connection was lost when he was met with deafening silence. 

“He’s…” Woojin paused. “Not burning down the restaurant?”

“All I know is that I’ve never seen Jisung more excited to work,” Seungmin said, snickering.

On the other end of the line, Woojin sighed, “Of course it’s the second I leave, Jisung gets motivated.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Seungmin chuckled. “Jisung isn’t getting any more work done than he usually does. If anything, I’d say he’s doing less.”

“Is that even possible?” Woojin asked, half joking, half serious.

Seungmin responded with a tired, “No.” 

The two continued chatting. Woojin talked of his success in the first two rounds of his kendo competition, and Seungmin went to the back of the kitchen for his break. The two boys were enjoying swapping slices of their lives with each other, but got interrupted when Seungmin heard someone making noise at the front counter. It was Jisung.

“Jisung! Come say hi to Woojin-hyung.” Seungmin called. 

Jisung jogged over to the back and pushed his face directly in front of Seungmin’s phone and shouted, “Hi hyung!” 

Seungmin rolled his eyes and Woojin, on the other end of line, did the same. 

“How’s the night shift going Jisung?” Woojin asked him.

“It’s fine, but listen, I want to hear about the competition I do, but I gotta go,” Jisung said regretfully.

Woojin felt a suspicious feeling grow inside him. “Go where?”

“Work!” Jisung called, already walking away from Seungmin and his phone. 

\--

Jisung had spent his two days off lazing around at home. He’d been mostly moping, because he was disappointed that Minho didn’t come back to see him on Tuesday. Chan told him it was unreasonable to expect him to return the next day, but Jisung couldn’t hold back his frustration. He phoned the restaurant several times while he was on his days off to check if Minho had come back for him, but every time Jeongin turned him away, saying that his cute, sweaty boy was nowhere in sight. 

On Friday, Jisung drove to work fast. He was giving out another chance for his spirits to be lifted and for Minho to pull up in the drive thru and sweep him off his feet. Jisung’s hopes were stupidly high and everyone, including him, knew it. 

He didn’t have to change when he clocked in for his shift; Jisung was already in his uniform. Nobody fought with him over what position he should take. Everyone agreed that he had to run the pick up window. 

So it was there Jisung worked for all eight hours of his shift. He stood by the pick up window for eight hours. When he had to use the washroom, he’d sprint, somehow managing to do his business in the short span of forty two seconds, and then race back to his posting. When his breaks started, he wouldn’t take them. Other workers tried to get him to rest in the back, but he brushed them away, insisting he wanted to stay. 

As his shift stretched on, Jisung’s bubbly mood slowly deteriorated as the chances of Minho that night returning grew slimmer. His attentive posture grew weak and tired, eventually careless as he slumped against the wall, staring longingly out the window. 

\--

On Friday night, Minho found himself standing outside the restaurant for the third time in one week. Hyunjin and Changbin were both pulling on each of his arms trying to get him to enter.

“What’s the matter? You said you wanted to come!” Hyunjin grunted, pulling like his life depended on it. 

“I just-ugh,” Minho huffed, trying to restrain from being pulled into the glass door. “I don’t know what to do!”

Felix, who wasn’t helping Hyunjin and Changbin tug him but was pushing from behind, cried, “We went over this! You’ll seduce him with your smooth talk!” 

“But where do we go from there?” Minho asked.

He yanked his arm back forcefully, and freed himself from Changbin’s grasp. Hyunjin let go in surprise. But Felix kept pushing, not realizing the other two had given up which surprised Minho. Felix’s weight pressured him to step closer to the restaurant, but Minho threw his hands up to the glass to prevent crashing into it. He pressed against it gently, peering in at the front counter. 

“Oh my god, I just saw him,” Minho squealed, dropping down out of sight to a crouch on the ground. Instantly, the other boys flung themselves onto the window, squishing their faces against the glass. They craned their necks trying to get a full view of the kitchen. It was difficult to see since they were far away, but the boys could only make out two people working. One was a middle aged, tired looking woman, and the other was their very familiar friend Jisung. 

“Where? Where?” Changbin asked him, ignoring Minho’s pleas for them to stop being so obvious. 

“Hyung, show us where,” Felix whined, tugging on Minho’s hoodie.

Minho did a quick check to make sure no one else was looking, and stood up slowly. Very secretly he touched his finger to the glass and pointed to oblivious Jisung. The boys immediately erupted into “oh my god”s and “i can’t believe it”s. Changbin held his face in his hands, almost looking sad. He groaned. 

“Jisung?” Hyunjin whispered. His eyes grew wide, mouth hanging open. 

“Nope, nope, nope. This night is cancelled. Everyone go home,” Changbin said, shaking his head.

“Wait a second,” Hyunjin said. “Felix, I thought you said you didn’t know him.”

Felix, who had been silent since Minho had pointed to him, was staring off into space. He was trying to recall why he hadn’t known it was Jisung all along, even though Minho had told him his name. Hyunjin, thinking that Felix hadn’t even heard him, was about to repeat his question when Felix snapped back to life.

He shouted, “Minho said his name was Han!”

Minho nodded and told them that ‘Han’ was the name of the worker he’d met. 

“But now he’s pointing to Jisung, so…”

While Minho was still very lost, Hyunjin and Changbin gave each other a long look. Changbin pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath in.

“That’s his last name!” He suddenly hollered. “Han Jisung! Han. Jisung. It’s the same fucking person!” 

It all came back to Felix, who remembered some distant conversation about Jisung choosing ‘Han’ over his first name for his tag. His reasoning had something to do with his rapper pseudonym, the one he would use if he ever made it big. He gave an apologetic look to Hyunjin and Changbin who looked irratatied. 

“So...it’s been Jisung this whole time?” Hyunjin asked.

Minho nodded. 

“Oh my god,” Changbin muttered. He pushed past the boys. 

“We could’ve done this from the beginning,” He mumbled, bursting into the restaurant, the bell above the door ringing frantically. He didn’t both asking an employee for entry permission when he stepped onto the staff side of the front counter, continuing on through the kitchen, directly to Chan’s office. He heard Jisung call his name, but Changbin ignored him and opened the door to the office. 

“Chan-hyung?”

Chan had fallen asleep on his computer, which wasn’t a surprise to Changbin. If anything, he felt relieved to see his friend sleeping on the job. He felt slightly bad for waking him, but Changbin was on a mission. 

“Changbin?” Chan asked, dreary, squinting at the white light radiating from the dingy ceiling lamp above them. “What’s-what’s going on?

“Do you think Felix, Hyunjin, and I can borrow Jisung for a little bit?”

Chan blinked, still clearly dazed from his nap. His face scrunched. He was processing Changbin’s words at a snail pace. 

“Jisung, Chan. Can we take him?” Changbin repeated. 

Finally, Chan registered what Changbin was saying, and said, “Oh no. Last time you guys ‘borrowed’ Jisung you literally left for an hour an half.”

Changbin’s gut twisted. He had finally found out Minho’s crush, and it turned out to be one of his best friends. He could help Minho out, but he needed Chan’s approval first. 

“Chan, listen. Hyunjin, Felix and I have this friend, who really doesn’t usually like people, but for some godforsaken reason he likes Jisung, and he’s been trying to hit on him for the last couple days but it isn’t going anywhere so we brought him here to actually talk to Jisung and not through the dumb drive thru window, so please just-”

Chan’s eyes lit up at the mention of the drive thru. He interrupted Changbin’s begging. 

“Wait-talk to him through the window? Wait-is your friend a sweaty, cute boy?”

“Cute, sweaty boy…” Changbin thought. “Do you mean Minho?”

Chan leaped up from his desk. His knees banged against the table and it jolted, knocking some papers from it. They fluttered to the ground unnoticed as he quickly stepped around to Changbin’s side. 

“Yes!” Chan exclaimed. “That’s him! That’s what Jisung said his name was!”

“So we can take him then?” 

“Where are you taking him?”

“I just thought-I don’t know...they could talk privately?” Changbin cringed as the words came out of his mouth. It sounded like such a childish, middle school themed, idea. Though Jisung often acted very juvenile, Minho was not, and needed something better planned. He begged Chan for help. 

“Okay, okay,” Chan agreed. “Actually I think I have the perfect idea…”

“Thank fuck,” Changbin breathed.

“He drove his own car here, right?” Chan asked. He slid past Changbin, but paused in the office doorway. 

“Yeah,” Changbin answered, “but the boys and I carpooled with him.”

Chan started off for a brief moment before nodding. “That should be okay. Just hang on for a sec. I’m gonna get you Jisung’s keys.”

When Changbin left Chan’s office, he found the boys hiding in a booth out of view of the front counter near the back of the restaurant. He barely made it over to them before they put him on blast with questions.

“Where did you go?” 

“Did you talk to Jisung?” 

“What’s in your hands?”

Hyunjin slid down to the window end of the booth, and patted the empty space. Changbin dropped down in the seat and dropped Jisung’s chain of keys on the table. They clanged against the table loudly, which shocked the boys, silencing them. It was Hyunjin who picked them up first. He dangled them in front of his face as if the metal could explain Changbin’s absence. 

“The keys are Jisung’s,” Changbin explained, “They’re going to help us get home.”

He looked at his friends who displayed similar blank expressions, clearly not understanding. He elaborated and told them that they would be riding home in Jisung’s car. Hyunjin complained, saying that Jisung’s car was too messy and gross, but Changbin insisted. He promised them that it was part of plan Chan created, one much better than the weak plan the four of them had come up with. Hyunjin huffed but agreed to sacrifice his comfort for the sake of the plan after Changbin gave them a full run through of it.

\--

The boys camped out in Minho’s car for the next few hours. They were too loud to stay in the restaurant going unnoticed so Changbin advised that hide outside. Not wanting to stand around in the cold, Hyunjin suggested they pass the time in the car, which did not please Minho. Being confined with all three of them for over twenty minutes was already too much for him to withstand, so the hours passed painfully. There was lots of bad singing and dancing, and screaming coming mostly from Felix. But Minho was able to ignore most of it by thinking of Jisung. 

Since Monday, Jisung had constantly been on Minho’s mind. His charismatic smile that made his cheeks bunch like a squirrel had become a tattoo on his brain. Whether he was driving, eating, shopping, or falling asleep, he couldn’t shake the thought of Jisung. On Tuesday he wondered if Jisung was scheduled. He envisioned him working hard, probably tired, having spent the whole day bagging trashy food and cleaning up sticky spills. On Wednesday, he spent his night hoping that Jisung had a day off and was resting, restoring his lost energy from the week. On Thursday, Minho was beginning to become impatient. He entertained the idea that Jisung had quit his job in the past few days and would not be waiting for him on Friday. He worried that Jisung had moved countries, never to be heard from again. Minho couldn’t help but come up with one disastrous scenario after another. On Friday, Minho woke up, nervous but surprisingly excited. He was going to the restaurant, whether Jisung was there on not. And if he was, Minho could only hope that he had been thinking of him too. 

Minho was awaken from his trance by the sound of an alarm ringing on Felix’s phone. 

“Guys, guys! It’s time!” He sang. He held up his phone to display a flashing alert labelled ‘HAMMER TIME.’

Felix silenced it and he, Hyunjin, and Changbin exited the car. Changbin grabbed Jisung’s keys out of his coat pocket, but didn’t leave. Instead he leaned down to the front passenger seat window and popped his head back into the car.

“Good luck man,” He said, looking straight into Minho’s eyes.

“Not that you need it,” Hyunjin called, standing somewhere out of view. 

“Yeah, you got this hyung!” Felix cheered, appearing beside Changbin. He wrapped his arm around Changbin’s shoulders and pulled him closer. Minho smiled at the two, and for the first time he didn’t feel empty looking at them acting affectionately. Instead, a warm feeling bloomed in his chest. He had always cared for his friends, but never had Minho felt so appreciative towards them. They were the ones who encouraged him to step out of his shell, to have confidence, to return to the restaurant. They wanted to hear about every detail, and were prepared to listen about the good or the bad. Just that night, they had spent several hours late into the night with him, hyping him up to see Jisung. If not for the anticipation of seeing Jisung within the next few minutes, Minho would’ve gotten more emotional. 

To keep it brief, he thanked them genuinely and promised to call them the Saturday morning. He waved as they ran off to Jisung’s car.

\--

At twelve, Chan had to tell Jisung that his shift was over, since he had lost track of time. Jisung didn’t argue or put up a fight. He knew that Minho wouldn’t be going through the drive thru that night. He needed to walk away and let it go. He didn’t say much to Chan, just that he was going to change, and shuffled past him to the staff washroom. 

When Jisung emerged from the bathroom, in his regular wardrobe, jeans and sneakers, he didn’t wave goodbye to anyone, like he usually did. He instead, made his way directly to the exit, just wanting to get home, crawl into bed, and sleep. He wished he didn’t have to go in the next morning, because he wanted to sleep for the entire week, to just lay in bed and never have to work at the window again. 

Jisung was almost out the door when he heard Chan’s heavy footsteps running after him. He stopped himself from bolting, and turned to see Chan approaching him with a bottle of coke in each hand. He had a big grin on his face. 

With an unusual hint of sweetness in his tone, Chan held out the pop bottles and asked, “Hey, can you deliver this order to a guy outside before you go?”

Sometimes people didn’t want to go through the drive thru or enter the restaurant so they phoned ahead of time, ordered, and waited in one of the designated pick up spaces the restaurant provided. A staff member would then bring their food to them outside. Jisung didn’t like delivering these orders because he felt creeped out leaving the restaurant to help a customer. He always felt like he was going to be kidnapped and shipped off to Mexico, never to be heard from again. Lucky for Jisung, most people found it more convenient to use the drive thru. 

“Chan, I’m off. Someone else can do it,” he responded. He slung his backpack containing his phone and clothes over his shoulder. 

“Jisung, I know you’re disappointed that Minho didn’t come back but-” Chan started, extending his hand to Jisung’s shoulder.

Jisung brushed him away, and said curtly, “No, I’m fine.” 

He wasn’t angry with Chan. He had no reason to be. Jisung just couldn’t control the disappointment he was feeling. It felt like he had just jumped headfirst off of cloud nine and he plummeting to the bottom. He cursed himself for getting so stupidly hopeful. 

Chan, being the perceptive friend he was, knew Jisung was upset, only lashing out at him because of it, and reached out to him again. This time he gripped both of Jisung’s shoulders and made sure to connect eyes with him. 

“It’ll only be a second,” he promised, giving Jisung the big puppy dog eye stare.

Chan did a lot of work and Jisung mostly did the bare minimum, so it felt wrong to refuse to do tasks when Chan asked him to. Plus Jisung had been dragging the mood down for the better half of the night, so he decided it was best to deliver the order quickly and be on his way.

“Fine,” He huffed, throwing his head back. 

Chan held the cokes out again, and Jisung took them but looked around for a bag to deliver. When he asked where the rest of the order was, Chan told him that the customer ordered nothing else. This only contributed to Jisung’s irritation.

“Just cokes? Why not just go to a convenience store?” Jisung questioned. “What is wrong with people?” 

Chan shrugged, but was smiling. It was a big grin, like Jisung had something on his face. He gave Chan a weird look, but left, thinking Chan hadn’t gotten enough sleep.

Jisung pushed the door open with his shoulder, and marched outside, coke sloshing around inside the bottles. In the dimly lit parking lot it was easy to make out one of the few cars off to the side, parked in the pick up zone. When he approached the tinted window, it rolled down. The customer had been waiting for him.

“Hey.”

Jisung’s heart seized. 

He recognized the voice before his eyes were able to meet Minho’s. And when they did, Jisung’s whole body swelled with a fluttering feeling. It felt like a balloon was expanding in his chest cavity. He was going to burst and explode into a million tiny, little pieces. 

“Oh my god.” 

Jisung almost let go of the coke bottles. Minho smirked. His eyes sparkled with confidence. 

“I heard you’ve been wanting a ride home…” He said, in a very smooth voice. In a different situation, Jisung might’ve laughed. This level of smoothness was something executed well in movies, but often felt comedic in real life. But something about the Minho’s amused smile made Jisung melt instead. 

When Jisung face, slack with awe, did not move, Minho spoke again and asked, “You’re off right?”

Jisung nodded slowly. 

“So you’re off. You’re probably tired, too tired to drive, and you need someone to take you home.” 

As fast as his brain could manage, which wasn’t saying much, Jisung understood that Minho was offering to drive him home. That’s when the realization hit him. Chan. It was Chan’s doing. It was Chan who wanted him to do the delivery, goofily smiling as Jisung left. He also had to have played some role in Minho being at the restaurant right when his shift ended, ready to drive him home. Jisung smiled softly, not only because he was standing right in front of infamous, cute, sweaty, boy Minho, but also because he felt so loved by Chan and his other friends. If he and Minho ever hit it off, it would be because of them. Even if it didn’t work out, Jisung was eternally grateful to Chan. 

Jisung opened his mouth. He entirely ready to say yes and to climb into the random boy’s car, with no concern about Minho’s criminal record, the fact that he hardly knew him, or that he was putting himself in a very vulnerable position to be kidnapped. But he froze when he remembered that he had driven to work that day, just like he did every day. He drove to work and he drove home. He couldn’t agree to get in Minho’s car or else he’d be leaving his car in the parking lot, giving him no ride to work the next morning.

From inside the car, Minho could see something inside Jisung die a little. His stomach tensed up, even though he knew what Jisung was thinking.

“Um,” Jisung mumbled, incredibly disappointed that his golden opportunity sent from God himself was getting so easily ruined. He let his arms drop to his sides, feeling so frustrated with the situation that he could throw the pop bottles on the ground. 

“I’ve got my car here, so...I-”

“No, you don’t!” 

Jisung whipped around and squinted to find his friend’s voice in the dark. Across the empty parking lot, a street lamp lit up Changbin dangling a ring of keys, Jisung’s keys. Jisung watched as the black haired boy pressed a button on the keyring, making the headlights of his car flash. From inside he could see Hyunjin and Felix making faces on the window. 

“Changbin-what are you…”

Hyunjin rolled down the backseat window and stuck his head out. He smiled sweetly and flashed a thumbs up. “Thanks for the ride Jisungie!” He teased.

Jisung continued to stutter as Changbin wished them goodnight. He climbed into the car and started the engine. Felix, who had called shotgun, hooked up his phone to the aux cord, and soon all three boys were driving off, blasting TWICE’s Dance The Night Away.

Hyunjin, who still had his stuck out the window like a puppy, shouted something that Jisung and Minho couldn’t quite hear as they sped off, but was something along the lines of, “Have fun lovebirds!” 

Jisung, who had just watched his car get stolen by his friends within a matter of seconds, turned back around to face Minho to see his reaction. To his surprise, Minho seemed unfazed. He was laughing quietly, and when he looked at Jisung, he couldn’t help but giggle more. He looked so confused, which Minho couldn’t really blame him for. He, himself, had only learned of the car stealing part of the plan an hour ago. But still, his open hanging mouth and raised brows forced Minho’s suppressed laughter out loud. 

Seeing Minho laugh, his shiny teeth, his eyes crinkling in the corners, Jisung couldn’t help but laugh too. If any customers walked by, they probably thought the two boys had gone crazy, laughing in an empty parking lot at twelve in the morning.

Referring to the insanity of Minho waiting to take him home, combined with Changbin driving off in his car, Jisung wheezed in between laughs, “What’s going on?” Minho, still cackling, could only shrug. 

When their laughter died down, it was Minho that filled the silence. “So about that ride home…”

Jisung grinned, his flushed cheeks bunching. Minho took this as his answer, and leaned over to open the car door for Jisung. Without skipping a beat, Jisung ran around the car and ducked in. 

It all felt very surreal to him. Ten minutes prior he was planning on heading home and sleeping until he could forget the past week. Then cut to him inside Minho’s car, getting a ride home.

“Here,” Jisung said handing Minho a bottle of coke.

“Oh thanks,” He replied. 

Jisung noted that he didn’t seem to be expecting the cokes, leading Jisung’s mind back to Chan, who had probably set that part up too. 

“I’ve actually got something for you too,” Minho said. He seemed to be a bit more nervous now that Jisung was so close to him, but traces of confidence still glittered in his eyes. 

“Look under your seat,”

Jisung set down his coke bottle down in one of Minho’s cup holders and folded himself in half to reach under his chair. Blindly, he waved his hands around until he bumped into something crinkly. He grabbed it and sat back up. In his hands was a small box covered in the restaurant’s branded food wrapping. Jisung gave Minho a puzzled glance, but he just nodded and encouraged him to keep opening. So Jisung tore off the paper, to reveal that the box was one from the restaurant as well. It was a burger box. 

“You bought me food?” Jisung asked. 

“No,” Minho answered, giving out no more clues. 

Jisung turned his attention back to the unusually light box, and pressed on the tab to pop it open. Peering inside, Jisung could help a smile from spreading across his face. He laughed softly, picking up his gift.

Minho grinned, happy to see that Jisung had gotten his joke and was equally amused by it. He started up his car and pulled out of the parking space. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pant pocket. Without doubt he knew it was his friends, already wanting to hear about how it was going. He ignored them of course, but smiled thinking of them. Although he wasn’t the biggest sharer and was typically more reserved, Minho felt excited to phone them once he dropped Jisung off to tell them everything. 

Jisung tugged on his seat belt as Minho rolled past the restaurant. Tugging on his seatbelt, Jisung looked out the window. He was almost startled when he saw Chan, Jeongin, who was supposed to have left a few hours ago, and Seungmin pressed against the glass and beaming at him. Jeongin looked like he was squealing in excitement, Seungmin appeared to be recording a video of him-undoubtably sending it to Woojin as soon as he was out of sight, and Chan gave him a geeky thumbs up with a true proud dad smile. Jisung waved to them as he passed and blew kisses to be funny, but inside he never felt so lucky to have his friends. 

“Well, I guess I don’t have to sue you anymore,” Jisung joked, twirling the cents in his hands. He looked over at Minho who was smiling.

“It’s okay,” He said. “I’m sure we’ll find other ways to see each other.” 

Minho took his eyes off the road to glance at Jisung, who did the same. For a brief moment they locked eyes and without speaking, exchanged a feeling. It was something along the lines of love and hope, maybe a hint of amusement. 

Minho didn't know if he was fully ready to let someone into his intimate life, but looking at Jisung that night made him want to try. 

Jisung wasn't sure that he had completely broken free of his shell yet, but sitting beside Minho, he was sure he'd have many opportunities to with him in his future.

Simultaneously, both boys broke their stare. They turned away blushing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this fic. 
> 
> I first want to apologize that this chapter took so long to upload. I wrote this many weeks ago but I was very unhappy with it, so I had to re-write it a few days ago. It feels a bit messy to me, like I was just trying to wrap it up quickly. Definitely not my best work, but I didn't want to leave this unfinished. I hope my mistakes aren't too noticeable and that I didn't ruin the story for anyone. 
> 
> I also want to add that I'm sorry for the lack of Woojin and Seungmin parts in the story. They were both had bigger roles in the final chapter but when I re-wrote it, the sections I had with them in it didn't make sense anymore so I had to delete them. I pinky promise that I'm going to be giving them better roles in the future.
> 
> But again, thank you all so so so much for your comments and kudos. It really shocked me to get such positive feedback on my first fic and definitely pushed me to finish this story even when I wasn't wanting to. I hope to continue writing for Stray Kids and other groups too.
> 
> Please support our boys always!! And thank you! <3 <3 <3


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